GeoPackage overview

OS VectorMap Local is supplied in GeoPackage format. GeoPackage (*.gpkg) is an open, non-proprietary, platform-independent, standards-based data format for geographic information systems (GIS), as defined by the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC). It is designed to be a lightweight format that can contain large amounts of varied and complex data in a single, easy-to-distribute and ready-to-use file. GeoPackage is natively supported by numerous software applications. GeoPackage offers users the following benefits:

  • The single file is easy to transfer and offers the end-user a rich experience.

  • Attribute names are not limited in length, making the format user-friendly.

  • The file size limit is very large at 140 TB.*

  • It supports raster, vector and database formats, making it a highly versatile solution.

  • It is an OGC standard.

  • In most cases, it is a plug-and-play format.

For information on how to open, use and understand a GeoPackage dataset, please refer to our Getting Started with GeoPackage guide, which is available on the OS website. Further detailed information on GeoPackage can be taken from the GeoPackage website.

* A file size limit might be imposed by the file system to which the file is written.

Booleans in GeoPackage

GeoPackage outputs Booleans as integers, either ‘1’ or ‘0’, where ‘1’ = ‘true’ and ‘0’ = ‘false’. These data types are used on override, suppressed and inTunnel attributes for the RoadCLine Feature Type and on supressed and inTunnel attributes for the RailCLine Feature Type (see Figure 2). GML outputs Booleans as ‘true’ and ‘false’ values.

GeoPackage tables

In instances where a particular feature class is not present in the GML, no tables will be created in the output GeoPackage. For example, some of the sparsely populated tiles may not contain a road or rail feature; in this case, the GeoPackage will be created without RoadCLine and / or RailCLine tables.

GeoPackage data structure and attribution

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